When she was younger, Laura became obsessed with the Hunger Games franchise. Her parents suggested she check out a little series called Survivor, and the rest is history.

“It was the microcosm of a society being pushed to its limits, it’s what people do under pressure. I just loved the psychological side of the game and I’ve wanted to apply for years,” Laura told 10 Play.

“It was everything I thought it would be and more. I had an absolute dream come true moment every single day, even when I was crying in the rain with our rice and beans I was still living my best life,” she continued.

Laura’s game started strong, with the Coven alliance forming almost instantly and her connection to the men on the OG Brains tribe through Rich, she was well positioned to go deep into the game. But tribe swap had other ideas, and she found herself in a ‘fractured minority’.

“Playing from the bottom was so hard. Like I said, I don’t know how Myles has been doing it for so long, it’s honestly so difficult,” she laughed. Finally gaining some momentum with Kate and Morgan, the ‘Girls Gone Wild’ alliance briefly formed.

“When that finally happened it felt like I had some control back in the game and it allowed me to figure out where the cracks were in the OG Brawns,” Laura explained. “They were just playing a very different game to the OG Brains, so it was fun trying to switch tactics and think on my feet constantly, looking at who was having conversations with who.

“It was a twisted, fun experience but would I wish for it again? Probably not.”

Her streak of bad luck seemed to be at an end when Laura found an advantage that, if she could convince her tribe to vote for her, would send her over to the other tribe and reunite her with her close allies. But it also meant leaving Zara behind - something Zara wasn’t too thrilled about, and during the tribal she fought to be the one to be sent over instead of Laura.

“I kind of respected, at the time, that she took the information and ran with it,” Laura said. “I told her the information because I didn’t want to leave her high and dry without knowing what was going to happen, so it was definitely a shock when she told me she wanted to be the one to go over.

“I really respected her in the moment, although it wasn’t what I would have wanted. I thought, okay we’re taking this game up a notch.”

Making it to the merge, Laura said as soon as JLP told the castaways to drop their buffs she was hit with “immediate waterworks”.

“I’m not an outdoor girlie, and I really didn’t know if I would make it to the merge but I’m just so proud I got there and can say I have the merge buff,” she said.

“Reuniting with the other side was absolutely wild because I had so many questions,” she continued. “Going into tribe swap the new Brawn seemed like a really strong group and then, all of a sudden, I’m hearing about hostages? What was happening over there?

“I was really intrigued to get some information and to finally be around people I could trust like Logan, Karin and Kaelan.”

And as everyone was settling in to the new phase of the game, Myles and AJ were plotting some chaotic moves. This week, Myles blew up the game when he used his advantage to steal Kristin’s idol and blindside PD – as well as the rest of the tribe – in a move that left many feeling exposed. But a move on PD was also something that Laura had tried to pitch earlier as well.

“PD had been placed extremely well in the merge,” Laura explained, “he had Kristin, and all of the OG Brains were working with Kristin… to have a public idol for that long is a real feat, and all the Brains wanted to work with her. PD Had a very cushy position, and his name not being brought up before was fascinating to me so I really did think now was the time to strike.”

When Logan wasn’t keen on the move, Laura backed down, adding, “My head had been bitten off in the past for fighting too hard for someone and upsetting my alliance, i.e. Rich, so I knew I had to reel back what I wanted.”

Had she known about Myles’ advantage, she admits she would have continued to gun for PD, but the chaos of Myles and AJ was also something she was wary of.

“They’re going to flip at any time without telling their alliance what they’re going to do, and that’s uncontrollable. We all know I like controllable.”

After the PD vote, Laura said she still felt safe in the game, having shown the people she was working with that she could be trusted and that she’d not only come up with plans but would also allow others to be heard when it came to their plans.

“I felt quite safe that my allies knew I was trustworthy and reliable, which is not something you could say about AJ and Myles after that tribal council,” she laughed. “I felt safe, but the buddy system needed to be broken at some point, and the biggest target happened to be Logan and I.”

On top of them being a power couple, Logan’s idol had also become public knowledge, unbeknownst to Logan and Laura.

“I didn’t know that everyone knew [about the idol]. I knew Karin and Kaelan knew, and he was the most likely to tell someone, but I had no idea it was common knowledge.”

Walking into tribal council, Laura and Logan were totally unaware a move was about to be made on them, until Karin whispered to Logan to play her idol. Then panic set in immediately.

“As soon as she whispered to Logan to play her idol, I had a feeling I was the split. Immediately I looked at people asking who they voted for, to absolutely no help. They weren’t giving me any information.”

With Logan safe, JLP began to read the votes, and when Laura saw her name pulled from the urn her jaw hit the floor.

“I look like a clown at Luna Park, don’t I,” she laughed.

“I was shell-shocked. If you look up the dictionary definition of blindside you’ll see a picture of my face,” she continued. “I felt like I had a lot more to give in the game. I’m proud of the game I played, but I wasn’t ready to go home.”

Luckily, Laura wasn’t sent home but instead became the first member of the jury for this season.

“I’m so proud to be the Queen of the Jury, it provides a whole different type of power, watching tribal council from a third party perspective,” she said. “It’s fascinating watching it, even from a meter away, you can see dynamics you couldn’t see when sitting on that stool.”

Laura also said that being the first member of the jury also mean that she could influence all the jurors who would be joining her.

“I think that the longer you sit on the jury bench the wiser you get so I really do think the following jurors will listen to me on what I value, which is a lot of power that I quite enjoyed,” she laughed.

“I’m so proud of myself and, to be the first juror and influencing the jury is something that I’m proud of, and something that I’m definitely going to do that the other players should watch out for.”

Australian Survivor Brains V Brawn II continues Monday - Tuesday at 7.30 pm and Sundays at 7pm on 10 and 10 Play